rld slips its mask and bares its arm to strike. Roosevelt
had to know for himself. He considered that he had two duties as Police
Commissioner: one to make the police force an honest and effective
public servant; the other to use his position "to help in making the
city a better place in which to live and work for those to whom the
conditions of life and labor were hardest." These night wanderings of
"Haroun al Roosevelt," as some one successfully ticketed him in allusion
to the great Caliph's similar expeditions, were powerful aids to the
tightening up of discipline and to the encouragement of good work by
patrolmen and roundsmen. The unfaithful or the easy-going man on the
beat, who allowed himself to be beguiled by the warmth and cheer of a
saloon back-room, or to wander away from his duty for his own purposes,
was likely to be confronted by the black slouch hat and the gleaming
spectacles of a tough-set figure that he knew as the embodiment of
relentless justice. But the faithful knew no less surely that he was
their best friend and champion.

In the old days of "the system," not only appointment to the force and
promotion, but recognition of exceptional achievement went by favor. The
policeman who risked his life in the pursuit of duty and accomplished
some big thing against great odds could not be sure of the reward to
which he was entitled unless he had political pull. It was even the rule
in the Department that the officer who spoiled his uniform in rescuing
man, woman, or child from the waters of the river must get a new one
at his own expense. "The system" knew neither justice nor fair play. It
knew nothing but the cynical phrase of Richard Croker, Tammany Hall's
famous boss, "my own pocket all the time." But Roosevelt changed all
that. He had not been in Mulberry Street a month before that despicable
rule about the uniform was blotted out. His whole term of office on the
Police Board was marked by acts of recognition of bravery and faithful
service. Many times he had to dig the facts out for himself or ran upon
them by accident. There was no practice in the Department of recording
the good work done by the men on the force so that whoever would might
read.

Roosevelt enjoyed this part of his task heartily. He believed vigorously
in courage, hardihood, and daring. What is more, he believed with his
whole soul in men. It filled him with pure joy when he discovered a man
of the true stalwart breed who held his